Threats, security in Afghanistan: Some responses

Last Friday's post, "After
bin Laden, a warning to foreign journalists," generated several responses
from Western journalists in Kabul. I also did two lengthy interviews on Monday with
the U.S. government-funded broadcaster Voice of America, and fielded questions
from several other news outlets.

In the VOA interviews--one a
group discussion with Rahimullah Samander in Kabul and Iqbal Khattak in
Peshawar, two journalists who know a lot about reporting in dangerous areas--I
took pains to reiterate the reality CPJ drives home every day: Our data show
that 90 percent of all journalists killed worldwide are local journalists
covering local stories. Even though the deaths of foreign journalists covering
front-page stories garner a lot of attention, our day to day case load centers on
reporters who might be recognized in their own country but don't have an
international audience.

Their international colleagues
fully appreciate the importance of national journalists, who have local
knowledge and contacts, along with the ability to move freely in places where
foreigners do not go. But I worry that ordinary consumers of media do not.
Local journalists, photographers, camera operators, producers, drivers, and
translators are an integral part of the international news-gathering machine.

OK, point made.

Now, on to our followup on the
alerts that at least two embassies sent out in recent days about threats to
foreign journalists in Kabul. I heard from several international journalists who
pointed out they are aware of the dangers in Kabul; while the possibility of an
attack or kidnapping might have escalated after the killing of Osama bin laden,
they said, the risk is always there.

"I never pay attention to them--I
don't think I have ever seen an embassy warning materialize into an actual act
as described. And there are SO many foreigners tooling around Kabul that the
focus on journalists is unrealistic," one person with a long history in
conflict zones told me when I asked about the warnings.

Another, who asked to be
identified as "an American journalist," told me:

It is very difficult to judge
the seriousness of these threats. We have heard about them, but we assume that
a kidnapping threat exists at all times. But we are doing what we sometimes
become lax about doing--varying our routes, watching carefully for odd behavior
by drivers behind us, and limiting our exposure whenever it's not a necessary
appointment. We can't stop reporting.It is very hard to tell in this
environment which threats are being orchestrated to terrorize us and which are
real. I worry everyday about how to do our job fully but safely. I think
we have to be mindful at all times but never cowed. I worry most about
correspondents who go out to restaurants frequented by Westerners because I do
think those could easily be targets. We have a short list of
places that we recommend that our correspondents avoid--sometimes they are
the only practical place to meet someone, but mostly there are alternatives.

Jean MacKenzie, who writes for Global
Post and who worked previously for the Institute
for War & Peace Reporting, messaged us on Saturday: "A lot of people
are keeping a pretty low profile. We won't know until it happens how serious it
is. Life here is a lot less fun than it used to be, believe me."

A journalist's job is to go where
the story is. Of course I take all proper precautions. I am not contemplating a
trek into Taliban country any time soon. I am not looking for Mullah Omar, and
the former and present Talibs I do talk to are all quite respectable. I do not
entrust my safety to people I do not know, and I try not to make too many plans
very far in advance.But there is a limit to what a
journalist can do to protect herself. Traveling with armed guards and in
bulletproof vehicles is not conducive to establishing trust with an interview
subject, even if such measures were not beyond the modest budgets of most news
organizations.I was escorted home from an
interview a few nights ago and the driver's companion had an automatic weapon
casually propped against his knee. I was terrified the whole time that we would
run into a U.S.
convoy that would spot the gun and decide we were terrorists. That could have
ended badly for everyone involved.

Bob Dietz, coordinator of CPJ’s Asia Program, has reported across the continent for news outlets such as CNN and Asiaweek. He has led numerous CPJ missions, including ones to Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka. Follow him on Twitter @cpjasia and Facebook @ CPJ Asia Desk.

Comments

After read this article I really didn't know there are many deaths of foreign journalists around the world, specially happen every day. There you should be a security type that can protect journalists they are innocent.